Brine is a combination of water and salt crystals—such as rock salt—in an aqueous solution comprising approximately one part salt crystals and approximately three parts water, and is used for treating roadways subject to snow and ice. When applied to the roadway, brine can provide an anti-icing layer that prevents bonding between the roadway and ice, facilitating ice and snow removal. The use of brine can often reduce the need to use salt and sand to limit ice formation on roadways, which can lessen environmental damage. Because brine can be applied before a snow or ice storm, it can reduce labor costs by allowing road treatment during regular business hours.
Brine is currently prepared in tanks with open tops through which salt may be loaded. The salt is supported above the bottom of the tank by horizontal screens. Nozzles about the upper lip of the tank may then be used to spray water over the surface of the salt, the latter of which may percolate downward through the screens into the lower portion of the tank. The water may be collected at the bottom of the tank and recirculated one or more times through a second set of nozzles until the desired salinity is obtained. An example of this design is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 7,810,987, which issued on Oct. 12, 2010.
As noted in the above-cited patent, the salt is often contaminated with dirt and silica which can be abrasive and can cause excess wear on pumps, flow meters, and valves in the delivery chain of the brine. Accordingly, these contaminants are allowed to settle in the tank at a point below the brine outlet. Cleaning the sediment from the tank can be facilitated by sloping the tank bottom to a sump channel leading to a sediment outlet in the tank. In use, the tank is drained (possibly without removal of the salt) and spray nozzles are used to force the sediment through the channel and out the sediment outlet.
Obtaining the necessary salinity using such systems can be significantly delayed by the time it takes to recirculate the brine for multiple passes through the salt. Cleaning the sediment from the tank is time-consuming and requires that the machine be drained and thus remains off-line for a significant period of time. Substantial sediment may accumulate in a few hours of operation, thus significantly affecting the throughput of the device.
Furthermore, typically the entity charged with maintaining the roadways of a given region produces brine at a single central facility and then transports the brine to multiple local facilities distributed over the region. Brine production may be carried out at a single central facility for several reasons. For example, road maintenance organizations may prefer to expend the resources related to operating a brine production apparatus at only a single location rather than at several locations. However, the cost of transporting brine can be considerably higher than the cost of producing brine.
It will be appreciated that this background description has been created to aid the reader, and is not to be taken as an indication that any of the indicated problems were themselves appreciated in the art. While the described principles can, in some respects and embodiments, alleviate the problems inherent in other systems, it will be appreciated that the scope of the protected innovation is defined by the attached claims, and not by the ability of any disclosed feature to solve any specific problem noted herein.